True Virtue
The Journey of an English Buddhist Nun
by Sister Annabel Laity
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Pub Date 20 Aug 2019 | Archive Date 20 Aug 2019
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Description
In 1988, Sister Annabel Laity became the first Western person to be ordained as a monastic disciple in Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnamese Zen lineage. She was given the Dharma name Chan Duc, which means True Virtue. Thirty years later, Sister Annabel is a much-loved senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village community. She teaches and leads retreats worldwide, and is widely recognized as an accomplished and insightful Buddhist scholar.
In this autobiography, Sister True Virtue shares the trials and joys of her lifelong search for spiritual community. First inspired by the kind Catholic nuns who ran her primary school, she encounters Buddhism while studying ancient languages at university in England. A few years later, when teaching classics in Greece, she meets a Tibetan Buddhist nun, an encounter that changes the course of her life and eventually leads her to her teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, and to her spiritual home in Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's practice center in France. True Virtue is a timeless testament to the importance of spiritual exploration, and offers a unique perspective on Thich Nhat Hanh's monastic community.
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781946764270 |
PRICE | $18.95 (USD) |
PAGES | 432 |
Featured Reviews
I loved this book for obvious reasons
1. I knew nothing about the author, so this felt like fiction to me.
2. I didn't feel obligated to love the story just because I liked the author.
3. The writing was very clean and relatable that I loved every bit of it.
Having said that, few parts felt dragged a bit too long. Read this for a good story. Read this book a good narration.
Thank God/Goddess for people like Thích Nhất Hạnh and their trusty sidekicks like Sister Annabel. Hard working, humble, committed, dedicated, caring for others, but still vulnerable, aware of their "failings" and out-there making fascinating stories of their lives. My hope is that by reading books like Annabel's some of their good karma might rub off on me - a lazy, self centred bumble-brain (relatively speaking). I mean, who wouldn't like to have someone inspiring to follow, rules to abide by, privation and discomfort?
So, if you're like me, and love the idea of the monastic life (except for all of the above) then read Annabel's book and live it vicariously. A tale simply told in chronological order, fun and interesting to read. Could have been edited down by about a quarter, and I would have liked a few more miracles or amazing visions or something, but no doubt that's just my failing, looking for a bit more Hollywood on the way to enlightenment.
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